Lean is uniek in de aanname dat leiderschap geleerd kan worden. In het voorwoord van Jeff Liker’s Toyota Way to Lean Leadership, beschrijft Akio Toyoda de Toyota Way als:
“a constant journey to find new and better ways to develop Toyota leaders. At Toyota we have always invested heavily in developing leaders who understand and live the principles and values of the company. We want our DNA to be encoded in every leader and every team member at every level of the company. We expect greatness from all of our people. We expect them to accept and conquer challenges that may seem overwhelming at first glance. The greatness in people comes out only when they are led by great leaders. We are all growing and learning, and we all need teachers and coaches to help guide us. We say at Toyota that every leader is a teacher developing the next generation of leaders. This is their most important job.”
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